Love, the greatest challenge
It is truly difficult to hold the spiritual vision in the face of our human nature and in the face of the nature of life itself. The spiritual vision of love is a transcendent view, it rises above our common human perception and perspective. There are many situations and circumstances in life that can provoke us into states of our lower nature. This is particularly true in conflict. In conflict we are quick to anger and liable to maintain ongoing anger and hostility. We are also fundamentally self-centered. It is human and natural for us to be concerned about ourselves, preoccupied with ourselves, and even at times overly concerned with ourselves. It takes an effort of heart and true will to refocus our perspective in a loving way. When we are depleted or in some kind of pain our minds quite naturally tends to focus in a negative way. It then takes a considerable exertion of will and openness to move out of that state, into the more expansive state of love and compassion.
But with the world currently in the general state that it's in, it is becoming ever more important to achieve and maintain a loving viewpoint toward ourselves and others and the planet. Because a loving perspective will open and allow the mind more space to perceive and resolve awareness of the true solutions to the problems that beset us, problems that are multiplying. A loving vision helps us to maintain cognizance of our oneness, and from that transcendent perspective we are better able to consider what is best for everyone rather than what is best for the select few. A loving vision helps us to also achieve and maintain a long term perspective, so that we may think about how our present actions may affect many generations to come. A loving vision allows us to have compassion for ourselves and each other, instead of an " us versus them" mentality, instead of seeing others as our enemy. A loving vision helps us to realize that our greatest threats are ignorance and fear and that we shall not find the solutions to our challenges in either of these.
There are great destructive forces afoot in human nature. Today, we see the forces of ignorance and the power that they hold. We also see the forces of fear and the power that they hold. We see the forces of selfish affluence and ambitious power striving to maintain their status and position, using any and all manipulative means to achieve their ends. From this pursuit and manipulation, we are influenced to be pitted against each other while those in power strive to maintain the status quo. We see the forces of greed using every means within their power to obtain greater wealth at the expense of everyone else and the planet itself. These dark forces use fear and propaganda to discredit anyone that challenges what they are doing. This is what we see in the great current denigration of liberal thinking. It is tragic and ironic that that a style of thinking (that in principle is more reflective of openness, compassion, and love,) is being demonized and disregarded. Even knowledge and education itself is being chastised and criticized. Fear, ignorance, and greed seem to be in ever greater control in human affairs. The outlook for the world is not good if this continues. Our great challenge is to find and hold our vision of love to guide what we do from here forward. It is up to each one of us to make this decision and undertake this great effort. The results of doing this will be a better world and a better future. The result of not doing it are too horrific to think about.
But with the world currently in the general state that it's in, it is becoming ever more important to achieve and maintain a loving viewpoint toward ourselves and others and the planet. Because a loving perspective will open and allow the mind more space to perceive and resolve awareness of the true solutions to the problems that beset us, problems that are multiplying. A loving vision helps us to maintain cognizance of our oneness, and from that transcendent perspective we are better able to consider what is best for everyone rather than what is best for the select few. A loving vision helps us to also achieve and maintain a long term perspective, so that we may think about how our present actions may affect many generations to come. A loving vision allows us to have compassion for ourselves and each other, instead of an " us versus them" mentality, instead of seeing others as our enemy. A loving vision helps us to realize that our greatest threats are ignorance and fear and that we shall not find the solutions to our challenges in either of these.
There are great destructive forces afoot in human nature. Today, we see the forces of ignorance and the power that they hold. We also see the forces of fear and the power that they hold. We see the forces of selfish affluence and ambitious power striving to maintain their status and position, using any and all manipulative means to achieve their ends. From this pursuit and manipulation, we are influenced to be pitted against each other while those in power strive to maintain the status quo. We see the forces of greed using every means within their power to obtain greater wealth at the expense of everyone else and the planet itself. These dark forces use fear and propaganda to discredit anyone that challenges what they are doing. This is what we see in the great current denigration of liberal thinking. It is tragic and ironic that that a style of thinking (that in principle is more reflective of openness, compassion, and love,) is being demonized and disregarded. Even knowledge and education itself is being chastised and criticized. Fear, ignorance, and greed seem to be in ever greater control in human affairs. The outlook for the world is not good if this continues. Our great challenge is to find and hold our vision of love to guide what we do from here forward. It is up to each one of us to make this decision and undertake this great effort. The results of doing this will be a better world and a better future. The result of not doing it are too horrific to think about.
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